Unsurprisingly, the youth led them to the first room on the right at the top of the stairs. Though the room was sparsely furnished, the walls were thick and had traces of anti-listening spells that would be evident to those with mage-sight. There was a small window on the wall opposite the door, but the window was closed and bore the same traces of anti-listening spells. There was a worn table with a drawer and half a dozen old chairs arranged in a roughly circular fashion, with one chair sitting opposite them.

"I'll hold you to that," Aurelia replied, "With my blade, if need be. But you're not the only one I'm worried about."

The youth closed the door and turned the key in the lock. The anti-listening spells flared to life. He walked around the group to sit in the chair on the other side of the table, slinging himself across the chair to rest on the arms. He grabbed his messy blond hair and pulled; the wig came off easily, revealing spiky red hair cut in a much more feminine fashion.

"It's a man we're after. Name of Ghom Warden. Took off with half a treasury, so we're after the bounty. We're hoping you'll find him for us for a share of the bounty, since we hear you work on spec."

Akiralta was silent for a minute.

"You've come at a bad time. I'm going to be tied up with something else over the next few days in town here, so I can't be gallivanting all over the mountains. Now..." she trailed off, looking thoughtful, "Maybe we can propose a trade of sorts. Your information gathering for my task in town here. No money involved."

Akiralta sighed, ruffling her hair absently. She took a moment to begin.

"There's a man in this town, Jaston Counter. He was an accountant for the Marid family up until a couple of weeks ago, when he suddenly grew a conscience, gathered up his things and a a few notes on the Marid businesses, and struck out for Litan. He'd be dead already if he hadn't been smart about it--he told them he was heading out to visit relatives and they only figured it out a couple of days ago. Long story short, I need the info he has, but he doesn't trust anybody. The Marids have sent an assassin, which helps me out if I play it right. If he knows I saved him from an assassin, he might trust me. Or, at least he'll trust whoever saves him. Looking at all of you, I just realized that it doesn't have to be me. If you get my drift."

"So, you get the relatively low-risk job of information gathering through your unknown contacts and special methods, while we take down a professional killer?" Ephraim asked, "I will admit, you certainly know how turn a situation to your advantage."

"There's four of you, and he's only expecting to take out a bookkeeper. Meanwhile, you get my best work, and to encourage you to do yours, I'll throw in a freebie at some point in the future."

She looked from face to face.

"If you want a few minutes to talk it over, I'll leave you to it."

Akiralta placed the messy wig back on her head, adjusting it in a manner that seemed extremely well-practiced. She re-formed her expression into that of a dull youth again and ambled over to the door, exiting and closing it behind her. Aurelia got up and turned the key in the lock. She turned back to the others.

"Sounds like fun to me!" Thea said, "I left home looking for adventure, so I'm good. Besides, we have a lot of talents that the assassin won't be expecting." As she finished speaking, there was a bit of a glimmer in her eye, as she was excited about the prospect of finally getting an adventure.

"Not necessarily," Ephraim said, "the killer was hired by the Marids. If they really don't want to take any chances, this could be far more dangerous than you'd think. If we do this, it probably won't be easy, she" he said, referring to Akiralta, "is probably downplaying the danger so we're more willing to agree. Worst case, we all die, she doesn't get her information, but at least she's still alive. Best case, she doesn't risk her own neck, and in return gets something potentially extremely valuable."

"But she was originally planning to do it on her own," Kestrel pointed out, "So it can't be too bad. Though I guess we don't have any idea what she's actually capable of. Since the Marids are sending the assassin, I bet it's one guy for discrete-ness who's just really well trained."